Episode 73: My Symantha by Doug McIntire
Symantha didn’t come down for breakfast today. Someone else came in her place. Someone in Symantha’s clothes, acting like she does, even talking like she would. Although she claims she’s Symantha, it’s obviously just a prank. Isn’t it? bloopers
Also, Rysh and Byg talk about “The Twylyght Zone” and Iryn Myn 2.
Special thanks to Lizanne Herd and Christine Maia-Fleres for lending their voices to today’s episode.
Right click HERE to download the episode, select Save Link As, and save the file to your hard drive.
http://media.libsyn.com/media/dunesteef/Dunesteef_73_My_Symantha_by_Doug_McIntire.mp3%20Related Links:
Doug McIntire’s Website
Lizanne Herd’s Website
Some sound effects were provided by freesound.org.
Music was Runaways by Elle Lefant, Omnipresence by Dereleech, and Melancholy I by Doemee.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License
The Dunesteef Audio Fiction Magazine 
May 25, 2010 at 4:34 am
STORY: No new ground was really covered in this story, and to be honest, I’m with Rish — I wanted the ending to be happier. The glass was Chekhov’s gun, so I guess I should’ve expected that ending. But I think the only thing that disappointed me was not finding out how Samantha changed from the 5’6 dark girl to the 5’10 blonde. I think it might’ve been nice to know.
PRODUCTION: I kept trying to connect the pop song to the story and I couldn’t pull it off — unlike in Kingdom of Flies, where the insect party song directly connected to the story. Maybe I missed it? Or was it just supposed to sound like a song a teenage girl would enjoy?
COMMENTARY: No episode of The Twilight Zone ever really scared me, though I did like most of the episodes I saw. They were the kind of horror stories that became the horror tropes we read in today’s fiction.
May 26, 2010 at 8:44 am
Creepy main story, though I somewhat wonder why the guy didn’t think “Crap.. brain tumor,” since I believe that is one of the symptoms of brain tumors and other brain degenerative things.. inability to recognize someone. I guess its easier to gouge out your own eyes than consider you’re sick, though. o.O. (or should I write, X.X).
As for genre, I’d pretty solidly call it horror. The fantasy element is unclear (and I still think mental illness and/or a tumor plays into it, though you’d think surgery preparations mighta made the latter come to light) but its certainly horrifying.
May 26, 2010 at 5:41 pm
This podcast rocks.
End of story.
Sheesh. (feel like a d**n groupie).
Can’t remember all of the little points that I laughed at in the commentary. although the main one I remember is “or queen”. Something about the voice in which it was said, and the way you guys just edited it in there was hilarious. I skipped the Iron Man discussion until later because I’m actually seeing it today. And I seem to remember a hilarious sound after the word ‘globule’. All of these edits are like little treats that make me want to go back and listen again.
I had no idea that the Twilight Zone was on television from 1959 to 1964. That actually raises my opinion of 50s pop culture somewhat. It’s funny how as you age, your childhood stereotypes are gradually replaced with more nuanced views of past eras.
It was a good touch having Big as the voice of the story’s protagonist since we’re accustomed to thinking of him as a father. This didn’t seem like a story in which the ‘why’ of the protagonist’s experience mattered so much. The main feature, rather, seeemed to be his insistence. It revealed something important about his character.
This post is already too long so I won’t try to develop my argument here. But the way the story was written makes me think that Doug McIntyre does ‘characterization’ quite well. (one example: having the character be generally sympathetic through most of the story, but then use the term ‘bitch’ at that one point of frustration works really well. We can like this guy yet sense that he’s in real trouble and could also be a real trouble to others. well done.)
May 28, 2010 at 3:08 pm
Before it was an episode of The Twilight Zone, “The Hitch-Hiker” was a radio play from the early 40s starring Orsen Welles. It was written by Lucille Fletcher who had seen the same hitch-hiker twice during a cross country road trip. She supposed he’d been picked up by someone who’d then passed her and dropped him off ahead of her. Well … maybe.
May 29, 2010 at 12:36 pm
“My Symantha” actually comes close to the the Twilight Zone plot of “Person Or Persons Unknown.”
May 30, 2010 at 2:25 pm
ummm…I love the twilight zone. One of my favorites is The Obselete Man. I also dig the audio Twilight zone episodes as well. hmm…I thought I was the only 30 something that still enjoys the show…guess Im not!
June 8, 2010 at 10:10 am
I didn’t think Symantha was some kind of smart-ass spelling of Samantha, I thought it was an intentional use of the prefix “sym”, used to denote things being “together” and “at the same time”. It’s super clever.
Not so fond of this story. I loved the idea, but I found the execution frustrating. Why does a guy who’s willing to check his cell phone to make sure he hasn’t travelled into the future have SUCH a hard time accepting that the girl’s transformation is real and not a trick? The amount of time spent on him proving it was real was, for me, unecessary.
I also did not find the charachter to be in a frantic, pathetic position to do “resolve” the issue as dramatically and painfully as he did. This might be due to the narration, but he still seemed rather calm and logical. He’s willing to consider he might be going crazy, but why isn’t he willing to consider getting professional help? There simply wasn’t suffecient groundwork for him to feel as helpless as he did.
On the other hand, my view of the story is clearly influenced by knowing there IS a treatable delusion like this called Capgras syndrome. And so I listened to the story thinking should just go see a shrink instead of gouging his eyeballs out.
Sorry guys’s I didn’t listen to the whole commentary so I won’t add on to any of the Twighlight Zone stuff.
November 24, 2010 at 11:58 pm
More on Capgras:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capgras_delusion
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlFi6IV42Ag (about 1:52)
There is also prosopagnosia, aka ‘face blindness’
June 26, 2012 at 3:09 pm
Awesome story. I think it was great that it ended on such a down note. Don’t need to know why she changed, as it isn’t important to the story being told. It is about how important looks are to us, and i love that it explored the idea that he could accept her as long as he didn’t have to look at her.